Wrong Date
by Lazy Chipmunk
Summary: AU to Animan. Adrien did it! He set Nino up on a date with Marinette! But the everything changes when Chat sees that Marinette is Ladybug, the love of his life. "But what can Chat Noir do?" "He a black cat." Plagg states, smirking. "Black cats cause bad luck." Now in a joint custody with Creepy-Pasta and Lazy Chipmunk.
1. Chapter 1

Adrien's voice buzzed through his ear piece, _"Repeat after me. 'Yes he is, but first I want to take this opportunity to –"_

"Yes he is, but first I want to take this opportunity to-"

" _Tell you that I love you, Marinette."_

"Tell you that I- ah…" Why couldn't he say it?

It was so simple! Adrien made it sound so easy, the words rolling off his tongue like he was saying his own name!

Nino couldn't. His tongue was twisting into impossible knots, making him spew out words that probably belonged to another language.

"I-" He squeezed his eyes shut, _'Just say it, Nino, it's your only chance!'_ "I love you, Marinette!" He finally gasped in one breath, taking hold of her shoulders.

"What?" Nino didn't see Marinette's expression of pure shock, he was clenching his eyes shut from the pain of Adrien's cheering exploding into his poor eardrum! _"Way to go, dude! You did it! Now hurry it up and ask her out!"_

"N-Nino?"

He finally opened his eyes to see her astonished expression An apple blush flooded his face when he realized that not only was he still holding her shoulders, but their faces were very close.

"Nino," She said again. "I don't know what to say…" Was there even an easy to let him down easy? Heck was there an easy way to tell a guy who just confessed to you that you're really in love with his best friend?

Marinette gasped when he tighten his hold, "Please," his body was shaking as all his nerves danced. "S-Say you'll give me a chance. I-I know you might not like me now, but I promise I'll try to make it work. Just, please."

How could she say no?

How could she say yes?

Marinette couldn't figure out what to do! Why couldn't Tikki just turn invisible and give her some ancient wisdom?! Oh, yeah, kwamis can't turn invisible.

"Um…" Her own ear phone buzzed, _"Girl what are you doing! You can't say yes, you're in love with Adrein remember!"_ She quietly turned away and whispered, "But he sounds so sincere. I don't' want to break his heart."

" _You're going to have to!"_ Alya shouted. _"Which is worse; now or later?"_

Whisper "But I can't, he's my friend."

Angry sighs _"It won't be fair to him. Understand?"_

"Yes!" Marinette slapped her hands over her mouth.

Nino's face lit up, "Really!"

Marinette realized she probably looked like a deer caught in the head lights. She winced when her ear piece buzzed again. _"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"_

The French-Asian couldn't answer, she suddenly found herself caught in a massive hug, Nino's tan arms curled around her tiny frame. "Thank you! I promise you won't regret it!"

' _I already am.'_

"Girl, call off your date now!"

"Listen, Nino, I-" Two screams cute her off as Kim and Max ran by with a black panther chasing them. "I need to go!" She jumped to her feet, Nino followed her example. More animals came running through and they quickly dashed off, with Marinette taking a quick detour to transform.

…

Chat smiled to himself as he jumped through the sky. Today had been a good day. He thought. He helped hook his best friend up with the girl of his dreams, got to spend time with his special lady and was now enjoying the rest of the evening doing his favorite activity.

A flutter noise broke thoughts making him grin. He knew that beating wing sound anywhere. Looking for the source he found himself right upon seeing his lady swinging through sky looking deep in thought. He tried to wave at her, but found she couldn't see him. Darn. He'll just have to try harder then.

Pouncing over another roof top, Chat raced to catch his love, slowly getting faster. _'She must really be distracted,'_ he thought as he picked up momentum. 'She's never this slow.'

Ladybug swung into the air again, doing a quick back flip before landing on top of Marinette's family's bakery.

Chat slowed down, curious. What was she doing at Marinette's bakery? A feeling of dread filled his stomach. Was Marinette hurt?

Worried for his class mate, Chat dashed over to get a better look. He wouldn't put it pass his lady to check in on civilians if they were injured. She was so sweet and kind and just downright beautiful. He couldn't imagine anyone as perfect as her!

Leaping off the roof, over the empty street, Chat clung to the wall with his claws using spots in tiny crevices to climb up to what he was sure to be Marinette's window. He didn't want to startle his lady and her friend so he chose to peak in, ignoring the tiny voice in his head that was calling him a peeping tom.

Peering through the window, he could make out Marinette's lit up room; all the walls were pink and covered in posts of-Him?

Yes. There were posters of Adrien. Everywhere! Nearly all four walls were covered in his image. Chat cocked his head in confusion. Why would Marinette have pictures of him when she was dating Nino now?

He ducked a little when Ladybug suddenly dropped down. She stretched her arms high in the air, moaning as her muscles finally relaxed.

This had not been a good day. Not only did Marinette mistakenly agreed to date Nino, but there was an akuma attack and Alya had been nagging at her the entire time. If Marinette didn't know any better she would say that Alya was jealous. But she was right. Nino was a sweet guy, but Marinette was in love with Adrien and it wasn't fair to either of them to date.

Ladybug sighed, once again clumsy Marinette cause another problem. Seriously, when she was made into Ladybug she thought her luck would get better now. While she still had good luck, she definitely had her moments of bad misfortunes, today being one of those days.

Oh well, she'll have to straighten everything out tomorrow. Maybe she could pull Nino aside and they could work things out, right?

She closed her eyes and shook her head. If only it were that easy! No. She couldn't be nonchalant about that. The heart was a sensitive being and must be treated as such. She wouldn't forgive herself if she broke Nino's heart! The guy was nice and maybe if she wasn't so hung up about Adrien, she might have returned his feelings. But nope. Fate just loved to screw with her!

With another sigh, Ladybug swung herself higher in the sky, not noticing a black form following close behind. She flipped in the air and landed on her balcony, dropping down in her room and stretching. She moaned with pleasure as her muscles stretch and relax. "Spots off." She commanded tiredly, and sighed as rays of pink light surrounded her form, leaving Marinette Dupain-Cheng in the heroine's place.

"Oh, Tikki," She sighed fishing out a cookie for her hungry kwami. "What am I suppose to do? I can't break Nino's heart. He's my friend and I can't imagine doing anything worse to him!"

Tikki sat in Marinette's hands, munching on her treat. "Alya's right," she said after swallowing the bit of chocolate chip in her mouth, "You can't lead Nino on, it isn't fair for him or you."

"But I didn't mean to say yes. I was only agreeing with Alya and it just came out wrong." She sighed and fell backards onto the pink sofa nearby. "I'm starting to think my bad luck is over powering your good luck."

The red kwami giggled crawling up Marinette's stomach. "Don't say that, you have plenty of good luck, it's just all about perspective! I'm sure you'll figure something out. I have faith in you, Marinette."

She sighed, "I just don't' know what to do. I love Adrien, but I don't want to break Nino's heart. What should I do?"

"You'll figure something out, but until then why not finish your homework. It's due tomorrow you know~" Tikki sang, flying over to her bag. Marinette giggled, "Yes, Mom." And reluctantly went to work.

Outside the window, Chat was having a mini heart attack. All he could register was: Marinette was Ladybug. Marinette was Ladybug. Marinette was Ladybug!

He slid down the wall and took off, still processing what he had just witness.

' _Marinette's my lady. She's been my lady this whole time!'_ A giant grin grew on his face. 'And she's in love with me!' Chat pounced into the air with a "Whoop!" And laughing. Oh Happy days! He was on cloud nine! No! This wasn't cloud nine. This was beyond cloud nine!

He slipped through his window, detransforming and doing a quick dance, unable to keep the excitement in any longer.

His kwami, Plagg, was less then enthused. "What are you so happy abou-ah!" He was quickly snatched up by Adrien spun around the room with his kitten yelling, "She's my lady! Marinette is my lady!"

"Put me down, you're going to make me sick!"

Adrien laughed and with a quick spin, fell into his chair, rolling up to his computer. Typing in a few key words he pulled up both pictures of Ladybug and Marinette. They looked nearly identical!

"Man, I'm such an idiot!" He said, "I can't believe I didn't see it before!"

Plagg floated nearby, tossing some camembert into the air and catching it in his mouth while speaking, "Yo've evin big'r idot fer fergebing abut her date wif Nino."

"Plagg, how many times do I have to say to not talk with your mouth full? It's disgusting!"

Rolling his eyes, Plagg finished his bit of cheese. "I said, you're an even bigger idiot."

"Why am I an idiot? Everyone else hasn't figured out her identity, as far as I know I'm the only one and that makes me a genius."

"It's not that," Plagg floated to a plate of cheese near Adrien's computer.

His charge rested his hands on his hips with a challenging look on his face. "Well what am I an idiot for, Sherlock?"

Plagg ate another piece of cheese. "You forgot she's dating Nino. The guy you set her up with."

Adrien froze, green eyes growing to the size of dinner plates.

"So yeah," Plagg finished another piece of his cheese. "You're an idiot."

Adrien remained frozen for a few moments. Seconds pass. Then minutes. Plagg grew concerned, "Adrien?"

His kitten exploded. "SON OF A BITCH!"

 **AN: So yeah, as you can see I'm still LadyNoir trash XD. I absolutely love this scenarios and I can't wait to see where this is going to go. It's only the first chapter and I'm hoping to post more. If not then I'll just leave it as a one-shot since college is really kicking my butt this semester. Anyways, I hope you guys like this and let me know what you think. I'm really sorry for all the grammar mistakes and spelling errors, I'm still rusting XP.**


	2. Chapter 2

Plagg had never seen his kitten so worked up before. Poor Adrien had been pacing for little over an hour now and still going.

The stress of the situation was clearly taking its toll on him; his once nice black designer shirt and original costume made white jacket were wrinkled. His perfectly styled hair was frizzy, sticking out in odd places as he feverishly combed through the golden locks with his hand.

"What's the big deal?" Plagg asked, catching another wedge of cheese into his waiting mouth. "It's not like she's marrying him."

"Plagg," his charged stopped to glare daggers at him, "It's just the girl of my dreams is with my best friend!"

"So?"

"So." Adrien echoed. He was suddenly kneeling to his bed, glaring at the tiny cat. "So she's dating him! So they're together! So I'll never have a chance to confess to her! This _IS_ a big deal, Plagg!"

The kwami shrugged, uninterested in petty human drama. "Not my fault you didn't see the obvious."

"What the heck are talking about?"

"You humans," Plagg stretched and smiled, "Always so oblivious. I knew she was Ladybug the moment you tried to get the gum off her chair."

"And you didn't think to tell me!"

"I'm not supposed to tell, that's part of the whole secret identity thing."

"Well maybe I won't tell you where the camembert is!"

"Hey there's no need to get hostile, Adrien!" He crosses his tiny arms with a smug, kitty grin. "Besides, I already know where the camembert is."

Adrien groaned, rolling his eyes, shooting from his spot on the floor. "I can't believe my bad luck!" He was using both hands to mess up his hair. "Nino is my best friend and he loves Marinette, but I love Marinette and she said she loves me!"

"Tikki would have called this a 'Love Triangle," Plagg said, lazily pawing a loose strand on Adrien's blanket.

"Tikki?" Adrien turned around. "Who's Tikki?"

"Ladybug's kwami. She's the helpless romantic type. We're pretty 'close', it's been decades since I've last seen her."

Adrien sighs again, falling onto his bed, disrupting Plagg's pawing. "This is insane. The one time I learn who she is and she's out of my reach again. Isn't there a way for me to get her out of this? She doesn't want to date him, that's obvious, but she doesn't want to break his heart either."

"Why can't you do anything?" Plagg questions curiously. His charged rolled over onto his stomach, face pressing deeply into a pillow. "Because," Came his muffled voice. Plagg moved closer to hear him better. "Nino is my best friend. I love Marinette, but if he finds out I'm in love with her too, he'll hate me forever. I can't do that to him."

"Chat can."

Adrien looked up to see Plagg's mischievous grin, tail flopping around with amusement.

"To Adrien, Nino is his best friend. But to Chat Noir, he's just another civilian. Who just so happens to be dating the love of his life."

It took only a moment for Adrien to understand just what his kwami was implying. "Wait are you saying…"

Plagg nodded, floating to him. "You want your lady, right?"

Nod.

"Why not cause a little mischief?"

"It's wrong!" The model instantly said. "I can't do it!"

"But she doesn't like him like that." Plagg reminds him.

"He's my best friend!"

"He's Adrien's best friend."

Plagg could see his hesitation. Like his charge, the black kwami had fallen hard for his own lady and now that Adrien knew who Ladybug was, he could see her again. "Come on," the little god coaxed gently, voice as smooth as silk, "You know you want too."

He did. Oh, God he wanted to. But his conscious was screaming no!

"Besides, I overheard in the locker room the other day that Alya is crushing hard on him. Maybe you two should work together. Marinette loves you, right?"

"Y-Yeah, but he's still my best friend."

"Nino is Adrien's best friend," Plagg corrected. There was a devious gleam in his eyes, "He's also Chat Noir's rival."

Rival huh? Well that was an interesting way to put it. "Yeah, I guess you're right. But what can Chat Noir do?"

"He's a black cat." Plagg states, smirking, "Black cats cause bad luck."

 **AN: I couldn't help myself! I wanted to wait, but darn it I was already given so many beautiful reviews I decided to post another chapter! Yes, people I'm falling deep into this ship and I'm not sure if there's a way out! XD. Anyways, I hope you guys like this chappie! It's not as long as the first one, but hopefully the other chapters will be at decent length. As I said before I'm rusty and there are probably grammar errors so forgive me, please!**

 **Also I don't know how long this story is going to be as I'm writing this, I'm still coming up with ideas for the next chapter and hopefully it'll be up soon, but unfortunately I can't make any promises. Anyways, thank you all for the reviews and favorites! You have no idea how much that means to me! Thank you guys!**


	3. Chapter 3

Their date was set on Saturday and Marinette was beyond nervous. Not just because this was her first real date with Nino of all people, but because Alya was consistently reminding her it was not right. Like she was now.

"I know I messed up!" Marinette whined, throwing her arm over her eyes while leaning back into the chair. "But it was an accident! I swear! My heart only belongs to Adrien!"

Alya crossed her arms with a half hearted sigh. "Girl, what am I going to do with you?"

"Send me to a doctor so they can fix my brain," came her muffled reply.

Alya giggled, pulling up her own wheeled chair next to her friend, "There's nothing wrong with your brain."

"Feels like there is…"

The two girls jumped when Marinette's phone buzzed to life. Alya reached for it with one hand while the other rubbed her friend's midnight blue hair.

She took one look at the phone and nearly paled.

"Who is it Alya?"

"Um…" She hesitantly presented the device to Marinette, who lowered her arm to see. Marinette saw a picture of Adrien on the scream and screamed, jumping out of her chair and scrambling under her desk, hitting her head in the process. "I-It's Adrien!" She squealed in fear, "What do I do!?"

"Answer it!" Alya exclaimed, shoving the phone down only to have it pushed back into her hands. "I can't! What will he say! He's going to find out I'm dating Nino and will hate me for the rest of his life after I break his best friend's heart!" She screamed gripping her pig tails.

Alya watched as her best friend freak out. She smiled at how silly she was being. While the situation may seem bad in Marinette's mind it wasn't nearly as frightening as the time she mistakenly sent that voice message and stole Adrien's phone. "Chill girl, I got this." She pressed the green button and purred playfully, "Hello?"

" _Alya?"_

"Hey, Adrien what's up?" She couldn't help but made a show of pure confidence, pretending to admire her nails as she chatted with Marinette's crush.

" _Nothing much. Hey is Marinette there? I would really like to talk to her."_

Alya covered the speaker with her palm. "He wants to talk to you."

Marinette shrank back, "Tell him I'm busy. Like in the shower-no wait not the shower-um…" She was having a mental break down.

Alya smiled, rolling her eyes playfully, "Sorry, she's busy right now. I can tell her you called though if you want."

" _That's okay, you don't' have to. Actually, Alya, I'm glad you answered_." That definitely caught her attention. "You are?"

" _Yes. See, I'm worried. I heard around school that Nino and Marinette dating now and I don't think Nino's been on a date before. I was wondering if you could, you know, help out a little."_

"Sure," she agreed in a tight voice, stomach twisting into unbearable knots. "I'll be happy to help." She shot a glare at Marinette who ducked farther under her desk.

" _Wonderful! So if Marinette asks you what type of places Nino likes, just tell her he really enjoys spicy food. Like really hot stuff. Green peppers, onions, spicy saulsa. You name it. And also he really likes super scary ghost movies too. He absolutely loves paranormal stuff."_

Alya raised her eye brow, "Really I thought he was scared of that kind of stuff. Didn't he say that last Halloween when we tried to sneak into a haunted house?" She could remember it vividly. Kim and Alix were having another contest to test each other and ended daring the other to stay the night at an abandon home near the outer part of the city.

Nino had tried to act brave, but ultimately gave up and confessed his fear of ghosts.

" _I don't think so."_ Adrien said from the other line. _"I'm pretty sure that was Mylene who said that."_

No she was nearly one hundred percent sure that Nino was terrified of ghosts. But then again, Adrien knew Nino much better than she did.

" _Anyways, I'm sure that new horror film, 'Dead Zone,' would be perfect. He's been talking about it all week."_

"Okay," Alya said, not entirely convinced. She had a weird feeling about this sudden call from Adrien. It seemed sort of out of nowhere. "Anything else?"

" _No that should be it. Also tell Marinette she doesn't have to bring anything. Nino is old fashion that way, he'll probably insist on paying for her."_

"Okay. I'll pass the word along."

" _Thanks, Alya, you're the best."_

' _And you're trying to sabotage their date.'_ She didn't dare say that, but there was an approving smirk on her face as they ended the call.

Back at the Agreste Mansion, Adrien hung up his phone. Guilt was eating him alive, but at the same time, he felt excited. The thrill of his plan was sending his blood racing with adrenaline, the only type he would get when jumping under the moonlight as the black cat.

"So how did it go?" Plagg floated by, his tail was twitching with excitement. Being the lord of bad luck, the black kwami craved some disorder and a little rebellion. It's what all Chat's were known for and Adrien was no exception.

His charged smiled, spinning in his desk chair," It went pretty good." Still he couldn't fight off the never ending guilt eating him alive. This was his best friend and he was purposely ruining his date.

Sensing the boy's thoughts, Plagg floated to the computer, munching on his cheese. "Remember she doesn't like him like that. You're doing Marinette a huge favor."

"Yeah…" Adrien sighed. He rested his chin on his knuckles, elbow on his desk. A picture of Marinette was currently on his wall paper. "But I can't shake this guilt. It's eating me alive, Plagg."

"Big deal," The kwami said, swallowing another wedge of camembert. "You'll get over it once your lady friend is in your arms."

The though send the blonde's heart racing. A goofy grin took over his frown.

Plagg rolled his eyes and waved his paw, "Hello, Earth to Adrien! You still have to finish part 2."

The boy snapped out of his inner fantasy, "Part 2? What are you talking about?"

"Duh!" Plagg snorted, "Now you go talk to Nino give him some 'advice' too." He said, making quotes with his tiny fingers. Then added with a pur, "As Chat Noir~"

Adrien nodded, pushing away the guilt. He'll worry about it later. Right now he had a job to finish. "Plagg, claws out!"


	4. Chapter 4

To Adrien the night was an air of mystery and protection. It kept him hidden from his enemies and gave him the important element of surprise. This was what Chat Noirs were best known for, and he was taking full advantage of it.

The guilt had long since melted faded away. The moment his suit stretched over his form, like a second skin, he felt free. No one could connect the sweet, wonderful, polite Adrien; to obnoxious, crazy, quick witted and of course handsome Chat Noir. Well maybe the handsomeness might be a clue, but that's about it.

Scaling the rooftops, Chat's night vision lit his world up in several shades of green. All that had been shadowed under the moon's watchful gaze was now out in plain sight. The black cat hero swiftly pounced across roof tops, passing by some of his favorite places: The Eiffel Tower, the Plaza, College Francoise Duport.

Then his emerald slits locked on a certain house.

A soft purr of pleasure vibrated through his throat as he jumped onto the maroon slated roof.

Nino bobbed his head to the beat exploding from his favorite yellow headphones, while finishing up some Geometry homework. There was supposed to be a test on Friday which was a total bummer. It seems like adults ruined his weekend by throwing more responsibility at him once again. He couldn't' wait to get out of school and become a famous DJ. It would totally sweet!

 _Thump!_

Nino jumped in surprise at the sudden sound of something hitting his roof. If he hadn't heard this song a million times he would have thought it was just the heavy beats. Pulling his headphones back, Nino gazed at the cream ceiling for a moment; willing the sound to come back again.

 _TAP. TAP_.

He twisted around at the sharp sound clicking against his window. "Wow, dude!" He gasped, his hazel eyes exploding open. Crouching outside his window was Chat Noir! He clicked a clawed finger against the window again, and then pointed to the lock.

Nino didn't need any more of an invitation. He shot off his chair and unlocked the window as fast as he could. Chat slipped in with feline ease, a Cheshire grin stretched over his lips.

"Dude," Nino gasped, "Chat Noir's in my house! I'm, like, a huge fan!" He quickly grabbed his Geometry paper with pen, offering it to the black suited hero, "Can you sign my homework, bro!"

Chat shrugged, scribbling his name at the bottom corner of the page. He even added a little kitty face for good measure.

Nino took the page back, holding it like it was worth gold. "So cool…" He was snapped out of his daze by Chat clearing his through. "So, Nino, right?"

"You know my name?"

Chat nodded, "Yeah I've heard of you. You're that pawsome DJ that got akumatized at Adrien's birthday party."

Nino flinched, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, about that… See I was really angry at my bro's dad and-"

"Don't sweat it!" Chat interrupted with a dismissive wave. "You were only trying to help him; I bet he really appreciates it. It's what friends do. Speaking of friends a little birdie told me you had a pretty hot date on Friday, am I right?"

Nino gasped, "Dude, how did you know!?"

Chat shrugged nonchalantly, "The birdie told me. He also said you might need some help with the date."

The music lover winced in guilt. He hadn't exactly planned out the date for him and Marinette. They were supposed to go out of Friday and he had yet to come up with anything! "Yeah…"

"Well, look no further," Chat gave a quick bow, "The Love Doctor is at your service!"

Nino blinked, "Love Doctor?"

"Yeah, I'm quite skilled with the ladies, y'know! I can have this Marinette girl eating out of her hand in no time! Actually we've met on a few occasions and I know a thing or two about winning her heart."

"Really?" He clasped his hands together, eyes dancing in pure excitement.

Adrien wouldn't lie, even as Chat Noir, he felt guilty for misleading his best friend, but as Plagg said earlier, Nino was Chat Noir's rival. "Really." He confirmed. "Now what are you planning on doing this Friday? Are you going to take her to the movies?"

"Um…" Nino winced again. "I haven't really thought about that. See I've been caught up in some stuff, bro, and I don't really know what she likes."

Chat shook his head while clicking his tongue. "Tsk. Tsk. I can see why they asked me to help. Now take a seat, my friend. The Love Doctor is going to show you the ropes on how to sweep my- I mean your Princess off her tiny feet." Nino took a seat back at his desk, his eyes never leaving Chat in fear that he would miss parts of this important lesson. "The one thing I know about Marinette is she's very independent."

"Independent?" He cocked his head to the side.

"Yeah," Chat nodded. "See, she's not the type to want things paid for her. She's a bit of the feminist type y'know."

"I didn't know Marinette was like that." Nino pondered this information a bit. He has known Marinette for quite some time. He already knew she was pretty independent and loved to make her own original designs. But this wasn't what he had expected. 

"Yeah, I know. You think you know someone and then it all changes. That's why you have me." Chat winked. "Anyways, it's pretty obvious you still need some help, so I'll be chaperoning you two love birds around town. Okay?"

"Chaperone?"

"Yeah, but from a distance. Can't let the public see its number one super hero look out for a couple of crazy kids. They'll go nuts!" He laughed.

Nino was slowly processing this information. He had a date with Marinette on Friday and still wasn't coming up with diddley squat on what to do. Chat was here to help and give advice. All the things he was saying about Marinette though was taking the poor DJ by surprised. So much for making it work. It was obvious he had a lot to do.

"So, like you're going to follow us?"

"Yep! I'll be your wingman on this one, Nino. You can count on this cat!"

Nino grinned in pure delight. He almost wanted to hug him, but that wouldn't be very cool. "Thanks, dude! I owe you one! So what else should I do to get Marinette to like me?"

Chat considered this. He knew he couldn't go overboard and say "Be a complete idiot around her." No. One: That would be too obvious. And two: He wasn't that cruel. No, despite now being Chat Noir, Adrien will always think of Nino as a brother and would do his best to look out for him.

"I'll tell you everything you want to know." _'Except that Marinette is my lady and you're my rival.'_

Let the games begin.


	5. Chapter 5

Friday was finally here, and for Marinette it was too soon. She had struggled to contemplate how to go about letting Nino down gently. But it was impossible! Not only was he her friend, but he was in love with her and she was in love with his best friend Adrien!

Marinette was still waiting to wake up from this awful nightmare. Sadly, she knew that wasn't going to happen, she had pinched her arm so many times it was turning red from irritation.

Something pinched her scalp. "Ow!"

"Sorry," Alya winced, twisting the raven locks, "You need to comb your hair better, there are still knots."

"Sorry," she winced, hissing a little at the painful dugs. "I don't know about this, Alya. I'm worried I'm going to hurt him."

Her friend smiled, "Just go through the date just once, if he asks you out again, say you only think of him as your friend. It's simple!"

"But it's not!" Marinette argued. "He's in love with me and I feel terrible for agreeing with it. I don't want to lead him on!" She would have fallen forward to rest her head in her hands, but Alya's grip on her hair was painful and uncomfortable. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do!"

"Just be you," Alya said. A hint of a smirk stretched over her face, "I'm sure everything will work out in the end."

"How can you be so sure?"

Finishing her work by knotting Marinette's hair with a pony tail, Alya took a step back to admire her work. "I just know." She said with an approving nod. "You look great, girl."

Marinette picked up the small piece of mirror on her desk, admiring her reflection. "I don't understand why you're dressing me up like this? Aren't you still mad at me?"

"I was never mad," Alya said. Marinette raised her brow. "Okay, I was a little miffed, but I know you didn't mean it. You're not that type of person. Besides, this is your first real date with a boy, so might as well make the best of it." _'And also to tease Adrien for not making his move sooner.'_ Alya smiled, just because she was taking part in the boy's plan didn't mean she completely forgave him for his cluelessness. This was just her getting pay back.

Marinette blushed and quickly looked away. She always imagined her first real date being with Adrien. Sure she had gone out with boys before, but never anything past platonic. The event with Nathaniel didn't count since he was akumatized.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to go grab some of those cookies your dad offered." Alya was half down the trap door when she stopped to look back at Marinette, "You okay? I can bring you back something."

"I'm fine," Marinette sighed again. "I just hope things go okay. I really like Nino just not in that way."

Alya quickly waved it off, "No sweat! You'll be fine! I have a feeling things will work out in the end, they always do. Call it journalist intuition." She winked and continued her descend down the stairs.

Marinette smiled and spun around in her chair. "Tikki, I don't know if I can go through with this."

The red kwami zoomed out from behind the computer, "You'll be fine, Marinette, just trust in your instincts."

"My instincts are telling me to run." Marinette stated flatly. Her kwami shrugged, "Well they're not wrong. You only have five minutes to meet up with Nino."

"What!" She made a tight turn to see Tikki was right. The clock was currently reading 3:30, their date started at 3:35. "No!" Quickly, Marinette dashed around, searching for her purse, somehow it was lost in a sea of clothes that Alya threw out of her closet.

Slinging her purse over her shoulder Marinette dashed down the steps, Tikki already settled inside the cozy pouch and made a mad dash across the street seconds before the cross walk turned red, unaware of the dark cat figure dashing over rooftops on all fours.

For Chat Noir the date came too soon. He had never felt so unprepared before in his entire life. The date between his love and best friend was something he was definitely _not_ looking forward too.

Once class ended, Adrien hurried outside, texting the Gorilla he would be studding with a friend for an upcoming test on Physics and wouldn't be home until later in the evening.

Pocketing his phone, Adrien ventured off to a hiding spot in order to transform. Nino was supposed to be waiting for Marinette at the fountain in the park. It had been Nino's plan to meet her in a public area so that way Chat could follow them without raising any suspicions.

As planned, Chat met up with Nino, he jumped into a nearby tree, hunching over the spot where Nino was standing. "Dude," The DJ cocked his head back to look up to the black leather hero. "You really got to teach me how you do that bro, its totally awesome!"

"Another time," Chat promised, flashing his signature grin, "You ready for this?"

Nino pumped his fist with enthusiasm, "Totally! I already have the whole day planned out! We'll go for a walk first, and then get some grub and finally we'll catch a movie. I'm thinking about that one with the snake guy and his killer girlfriend! You think Marinette would like that?"

Chat shrugged, smirking, "I think she's more into ghost films personally." His grin widen when Nino's face paled, "G-Ghost movies?"

"Yeah," Chat said, he moved to a sitting position on the branch, stretching out along the length of the tree's limb, twisting a leaf off and twirling the stem with mock disinterest. "She's pretty into that stuff. Why do you sound so scared? Are you scared of ghosts or something?" He teased.

Nino shook his head immediately, "No way dude! That's like, sissy stuff! I'm not scared of ghosts!"

' _He's lying,_ ' the cat thought. ' _Perfect._ ' An obnoxious smirk grew on his face, luckily Nino didn't notice because he was too busy looking out of Marinette. He suddenly gasped, pointing out to the crowd, "Dud, there she is!"

Chat followed Nino's finger and found he was struggling to breathe at what he saw.

He had never seen his lady look so beautiful before.

No.

His lady was always beautiful.

But this…this was gorgeous…

Her hair had been originally done in a braid before Marinette had changed her mind and decided to release the midnight locks, letting them spill out in loose curls that bounced her shoulders. A baby blue head band replaced her signature pigtails, framing her face and showing off the black earrings. She wore a white sundress, with blue sandals to match her headband.

Both boys could see she also wore a hint of makeup; enhancing her cheek bones and making her eyes pop out.

Chat could only utter two breathless words in his awe of the situation: "Son of a bitch…"

This was going to be hard.

 **AN: Hey guys sorry for the late update. I was a bit busy for the weekend with a big test coming up in a week or so and me studying to the point where I want to murder the people who came up with algebraic equations. Ugh!**

 **Anyways, the next chapter is going to be a bit of a contest. You guys get to decide how Chat and Alya should 'help' Marinette with her date. So I want to hear what you guys want to happen. And hopefully it won't take me as long to update next time. Thank you for the reviews/favs/followings! :D Love you guys!**


	6. Chapter 6

Alya wasn't jealous. She wasn't!

Nino was like a brother to her. He was annoying and sometimes knew the right kind of music to play. He talked like some surfer and he was just silly. Sure he could be a bit cute, but that was very rare.

Alya was not jealous!

She was only trying to look out for her bff. That's all! This was Marinette's first actual date! And knowing Marinette's bad luck, something definitely was going to happen.

The Ladyblogger, ducked down into some bushes, watching her two friends get venture to the ice-cream stand to get a sweet treat.

"I don't have that much on me." Marinette admitted, "But do you want anything?" Nino awkwardly scratched his baseball cap. "No thanks, sorry I didn't bring and doe, I must have left it back home."

She smiled in response, "That's okay. How about we just get two cones, that way we'll have something in our bellies before we leave and we'll still have enough to see the movie."

"Dude," Nino gasped, "How much did you bring?" His date giggled, a light blush dusting her cheeks, "My mom heard that I was going on a date and insisted I bring some money with me. I guess it's a good thing I did, huh." She teased, playfully nudging him with her elbow.

Nino looked away embarrassed. Why did he have to purposely forget his wallet? Sure. Chat Noir told him that Marinette was a very independent person, but he could have brought a few bucks to help pay for stuff. This was total bogus.

Marinette handed three dollars to the vender before offering a small cone to Nino. So far their date wasn't as bad as she had expected. Honeslty, she was worried he was going to flirt with her and be a bit over the top like Chat was with Ladybug.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

Chat Noir was jealous.

Perched, on his tree branch, the black cat hunched over to watch the two talk happily about what ever they wanted. It was ridiculous!

Why did Marinette bring money! Did she just do it out of habit or something? Did her parents forced her to?

Ugh. This was not going as plan.

"This is stupid." He stopped ears twitching at a second voice parroting his thoughts aloud. Looking down, Chat gasped to see Alya staring back at him.

"Chat Noir?"

"Ayla?"

"What are you doing here?" They both asked, point at one another and blinked in surprise. Alya was the first to speak, rising from her crouch in the bushes, "How do you know my name?' She asked, her leg cocked to the left.

Chat for a second was loss of words, "Uh.. you run the ladyblog. Duh! Everyone knows you." Smooth Chat. Real Smooth.

"Really!" She gasped, delighted that Ladybug wasn't the only one who liked her blog. "That's so cool!" Chat grinned under her praise, scratching the back of his sun kissed hair. Suddenly his ears twitched and he quickly turned around to see that Nino and Marinette were getting ready to leave.

"I bet they're going to the movie theater now." Alya said to herself. Chat nodded in agreement, "Yeah looks like it, I bet they're going to see a horror film too."

Alya blinked in surprise, "Wait a second, how do you know that?" Chat flinched, caught, but he wouldn't let her know that just yet, "Uh, I just figured that's what everyone is going to see. You know. I wouldn't be surprise, I hear it's a real killer-get it! Because it involves a killer ghost."

But Alya was buying it. She smirked, hand rested her hip, phone in her other hand recording Chat Noir's reaction. "Are you sure you're not just spying on them? It seems like you're pretty interested in their date."

"H-Hey put that away," He tried to cover the lense, but being on the ground, Alya had more of an advantage. She grinned into the camera, "You here that peeps, Chat Noir is playing the wingman in this little get together!"

Chat growled, "Yeah, like I would play the wingman. She doesn't even like him."

"And how would you know that?" Alya spun around so he could face her phone. "Seems like someone knows more than he's letting on."

"No I'm not!" He winced at how his voice squeaked in a desperate attempted to sound convincing.

Alya hummed, her journalist instincts telling her that was full of it. "Well," she said, making a show of texting on her phone, "I guess I'll just let Mari know that you're here and..."

"Wait!" Chat screamed, reaching to snatch her phone, luckily Alya predicted his movements and swiftly moved away from his claws. "I knew it!" She sang. "What's your real reason for being here?"

Damn, he was digging himself an even bigger hole now. 'I can't tell her the truth though, if she finds out I'm Adrien, she'll go nuts!' A memory of what Plagg had said earlier replayed through his mind. "To Adrien, Nino is his best friend. But to Chat Noir, he's just another civilian…" And that's what Alya was: A civilian.

"Okay," he jumped out of his perch approaching the blogger, "Look," he lowered his voice to pass the action off as an important secret. He cupped his hand near his mouth, looking around for an unknown person that wasn't really there, "I was asked to do this by someone named Adrien Agreste. You might know him."

"Adrien?" She squeaked, Chat shushed her, but nodded, "Yeah, him. See he loves Marinette, but he can't do anything about it without making Nino hate him. So because I'm such an awesome guy, he asked me to play as the 'wingman' for their date." He explained making air quotes with his claws.

Alya's mouth opened in an 'o' shape of understanding. Then a sly smirk took over. "So that's what's going on. I know Adrien had something up his sleeve."

"Yeah," Chat agreed, voice still mimicking a whisper, "But listen, you can't let Marinette or Nino know. Word can spread and I don't want my lady hating me for ruining someone's date."

Alya nodded in understanding. "Well, looks like we have similar goals then. I'm not to happy that Marinette agreed to this either. She's in love with Adrien and it's not like she can just tell Nino that."

"I know." Chat said and pointed to his ears, "I'm a pretty good listener. She doesn't want to seem like the bad guy."

"No she doesn't."

"So, since we have similar goals how about we make an arrangement. What do you say?"

"I say what do you have in mind?"Chat's smirk easily match Alya's. He leaned in and whispered to her his plan.

Alya now on a devilish grin. ' _This is going to be fun.'_


	7. Chapter 7

Marinette smiled as she accepted the tickets from the nice man behind the counter as well as their drinks and popcorn. The blunette turned to her date, Nino, who gladly helped himself to a sizable handful of their snack, munching happily. Seeing her friend with his cheeks puffed out like a squirrel's was an odd sight indeed and for some reason it reminded her of a silly video Alya had shown her earlier that week.

"W'at so 'unni?" Nino asked after taking in another mouthful.

"Y-You are!" Marinette laughed, and then the reality of her statement came right back to bite her. Immediately she started to wave her hands around in hopes to dispel any offence she might have caused, all the while stuttering like an idiot, "I-I don't mean you're funny, I just mean what y-you're doing i-is funny! Y-You look like a squirrel and –AH! I don't mean it like that what I meant to say is-"

As Marinette struggled to complete an actual sentence, Nino couldn't stop the heat rising in his cheeks. The only time Marinette ever stuttered was almost always around Adrien. She constantly mixed up her words as if trying to speak a new language.

Another thought striked him: Was he making her lose her train of thought? If so, then was that a good thing?

Marinette groaned, slapping her forehead. Great! Not only was she a total mess around Adrien, but apparently she was losing her cool with Nino too! Now he was going to think she doesn't like him. Well, she likes him, but not in that way. He was a very good friend; they've known each other since starting school together. She could never see him as anything more than a friend; which is kind of sad. Nino was a great guy, any girl would be lucky to be with him. Sadly, Marinette's heart belonged solely to Adrien. She couldn't imagine a world where he didn't exist.

Suddenly she began to wonder what would happen if she never met Adrien. Would she have fallen for Nino?

No. He was a sweet guy, but if there was anyone she might like as more than a friend, if Adrien didn't exist, then it might be Chat Noir. Despite her rejections, she secretly did like the attention he gave her, it's just that he was a terrible flirt and besides he only liked Ladybug, not Marinette.

Nino likes her as Marinette though…

If neither Adrien nor Chat existed, then maybe she would have fallen for Nino, they did have a lot in common, both loved music and they were very close to Alya.

Speaking of Alya she didn't seem too thrilled about all this. Sure it was morally wrong for Marinette to mistakenly agree to go on a date with him, but it felt like Alya was also upset for another reason…

"Hey we should probably head on in, the movie is going to start soon and I think we should go ahead and pick out our seats."

Marinette snapped out of her thoughts and nodded, "Sure!" And they moved up the short set of stairs into the theater. For some reason Nino had chosen this year's scariest movie to ever come out in theaters.

' _I guess he's over his fear of ghost.'_ Marinette thought. The truth is she was terrified of ghosts, but she didn't want to push this off just because of her own personal problems. She wanted to make sure Nino had a good time as well. Maybe she can just cover her ears and close her eyes when it gets to scary. One thing is for sure, Marinette was going to have to sleep with a light on.

…

Many Chat Noirs in the past have had partners; however most of those partners were usually miraculous holders, specifically Ladybug. However, from what Plagg had told him, many none miraculous holders had helped Chat Noirs in the past. This was just one of those cases. He had enlisted the help of Alya, a good friend of his to save his princess/lady.

Now they had a plan and it all started the second Alya told the man behind the counter that one of the movie theaters was having technical difficulties. Once he left, the blogger grabbed an "Out of Order" sign and placed it on the door that lead to the movie Marinette and Nino were seeing. The two had already gone in, luckily from what Chat saw thanks to his night vision, they were the only ones there. This wasn't something he particularly liked. After all his best friend was in a dark, room where a scary movie is suppose to be playing. This was a perfect scenario for romance!

Adrien had a few playful fantasies where he and his lady decide to catch a flick after patrol and ended up seeing a scary movie. Of course in his mind Ladybug wasn't as daring and brave as she is in real life. The dream version was easily frightened by the jump scares. A particular one would come up and his poor lady would cling onto the nearest person to her, who would be him and then they would sit through the rest of the movie cuddling.

Sadly that was all just a fantasy. He knew his lady wouldn't be scared of by a few props and CGI; she was too smart to fall for that stuff! More than likely it would be Nino who would be scared of the ghosts in this film. Adrien knew his best friend was terrified of ghosts and would probably go running for the hills if he ever saw one.

The model did feel terrible for doing this, but it's for a good cause. He was saving a friendship from two of the most important people in his life!

When the commercials started, Alya and Chat took their places behind Nino, who seemed relatively relaxed in his comfy chair. The movie started out with a nice narration from the main character who at first spoke about how his life was perfect. He had a wife and new born baby, and all of them were living in a nice house on the rich side of town.

Adrien probably would have been a little more interested in this particular film; he had a weakness for anything that was paranormal and found himself wanting to better understand the world that lie outside of his. This was of course brought on by Plagg who, when not talking about camembert, would sometimes entertain his chosen with stories about the previous Chat Noirs and their adventures to different worlds that were invisible to humans, and entering different dimensions that co existed with the human realm.

The movie quickly took a dark turn with an eerie silence and creepy atmosphere. They're plan was falling into place all thanks to Alya's research on the film.

Nino would be lying if he said he wasn't scared. No he was freaking terrified! He wanted to jump up and yell at the lady for acting so stupid. She was trying to investigate a strange noise coming from her daughter's room, it sounded like an animal- a wolf perhaps. Either way, he would have turned tail and run to grab his spouse for extra support.

Marinette was no better, she wanted to hide away from the upcoming scare, but her curiosity was getting the best of her and she found herself peaking through her fingers to see that the stupid lady was only walking into her daughter's room with a freaking fire place poker! Doesn't she realize it's a ghosts, not a burglar?!

Chat Noir and Alya both waited behind Nino all the while the lady in the film was creaking open the door to her child's room. Inside was a strange black creature peering down at her baby's crib. The site made everyone a little sick. Both Nino and Marinette whimpered as the lady slowly tip toed closer while wielding her weapon like a bat, preparing to strike.

Alya took advantage of Nino's vulnerable state, reaching out to touch the back of his arm through the tiny space between the cushioned seats. The teen jumped with a high girly squeal a few seconds before the creature turned to face the frightened mother, completely spoiling the jump scare and surprising Marinette who gave her own scream in surprise. "Nino, what's wrong?!" She whispered harshly.

"N-Nothing!" He squeaked, "I-I um… Marinette did you touch my arm?"

She blinked at him before shaking her head, "No. Maybe it was someone else…"

Nino quickly shook his head as well, "No it wasn't anyone else, and we're the only ones here."

Marinette shivered a little. She tried to reason that there wasn't anything to be scared of, but she couldn't help but wonder what else might be in this theater with them. Nino was right they were the only ones here. This set off some internal alarms in Marinette's head.

The violin sound was catching up fast, screaming louder and louder as the husband eased his way down an old wooden staircase. Alya reached in between the space again to touch Nino's arm, pinching the loose skin on his elbow.

"OW!" He cried, jumping a good two feet in the air, dispelling the upcoming scare and causing Marinette to scream along with him.

"Nino, what are you doing?"

"Someone one pinched me!"

Marinette looked behind their seats only to find that no one was there. Alya and Chat had moved to another location thanks to Chat's acrobatic skills. "No one is there… Are you sure-"

"Marinette, I'm sorry, but this movie is freaking me out! I-I don't want to come out as a big baby, but this is scaring me, I'm sorry! I know you like horror movies, but-"

She quickly stopped him, "Wait who told you I liked horror movies?"

"D-Don't you?"

Marinette shrugged, "N-Not really… I mean I can handle some of them, but these types I'm not really a fan of. I thought you wanted to see it."

His eyes widen, "No I only wanted to see it because someone said you liked ghosts' movies."

Marinette winced at the loud blood curdling scream the mother gave as her possessed husband tried to attack her with a butcher's knife. "No. Who ever told you that doesn't' know me very well."

 _Oh no_. Nino thought. _I've totally blown this! I told Marinette I wouldn't make her regret going out with me and now she is! Didn't Chat say she likes scary movies!_

It was heart breaking to see Nino so down. He obviously wanted to make the most of their first date. Marinette reached over and patted his shoulder, "Hey, why don't we go to the park instead? I'm sure it's still bright out and we won't to worry about any scary ghosts possessing us."

The two winced as another scream of murder echoed through the large theater. The husband was now fighting the demon who had taken refuge in the body of a priest.

"Y-Yeah," Nino nodded, "Let's do that. I'm sorry things aren't turning out so good."

She smiled and shook her head, "Don't worry about it, I'm kind of glad we won't have to sit through the whole movie. I don't think I can handle anymore jump scares." The two laughed before rising from their seats and heading up to the double doors.

Chat and Alya watched as their friends left, their mouths hanging comically open, with their eyes ridiculously wide. The two could only utter a few choice words that represented their failure:

"SON OF A BTICH!"


	8. Chapter 8

Alya has always been taught the saying, "At first you don't succeed, try; try again." Apparently someone skipped out on that lesson for poor Chat. She's never seen him this upset before, it was freaking unheard of.

"I can't believe it didn't work!" He yelled, clawing at his bright blond hair. "He was suppose to leave, not him and Marinette! This isn't going well at all!"

"Chat, chill." She patted his leather shoulder, momentarily noting how smooth the material was. Was this the type of stuff Marinette was looking for, for her new design? Oh, well she'll worry about it later. "Listen we still have time to sabotage their date. They're going to the park, so we can easily get there and put a stop to this. Okay?"

Chat took a moment to catch his breath then nodded, his hair bouncing around wildly, while his belt tail drooped to the floor. They were still in the theater, the movie had long since been over with a last minute jump scare from the evil spirit, but neither person really paid attention.

"You're right, Alya. I'm sorry for over-reacting. It's just that I-Um Adrien, is counting on me to fix this. He really cares about Marinette and hates the fact that she's in this situation. You know?"

"That does make me wonder: If Adrien loves her so much, how come he's never tried to date her in the first place?"

Chat was pretty thankful that the room was still a bit dark, or else Alya would have seen him wincing. "H-He's a pretty shy guy. I asked him the same thing and he told me he thought Marinette hated him, or was intimidated by him because of his father. The only reason he found out about Marinette crushing on him was because I was following my lady and we stopped by to check on Marinette, her and Ladybug are pretty close you know, anyways while I was there I saw-"

"The pictures?"

Chat blinked, "You know?"

The redhead laughed, slapping her knee, "Of course I know; we're best friends! That girl is freaking insane for him! I've never seen someone so in love before!"

A warm feeling bubbled inside Chat's chest as a giant grin over took his face. His lady loved him, basically adored him, as he did her. They were in a criss-cross kind of love; however it felt wrong that he knew both sides of his lady, while Marinette only saw Chat and Adrien as two different people.

"We need to get going." Alya made her way to the door, "the date's not going to sabotage itself you know."

Chat smiled, "I agree with you whole heartedly." He made a courtesy bow, "Lead the way Ms. Alya." Laughing she rolled her eyes and headed on out, ignoring the odd stares from other customers.

Nino briefly wondered why he didn't think of just hanging out at the park with Marinette. It was cheap, they could still have fun and he wouldn't end up making a fool of himself anymore!

Marinette's thoughts were similar, as she took in the more positive atmosphere complete with bright clear skies, warm weather and no ghosts!

Despite all this, the dirty feeling under her skin wouldn't go away. She mentally cringed when ever someone smiled at her and Nino, believing they were a couple. Oh how she wishes to stop this crazy day. Sadly, she had to stupidly agree and now she'll be stuck on a date with Nino. If this was a friendly get together it wouldn't be so bad, but nope!

This was an actual date and she has to comply with it, like it or not!

"Marinette…!" She winced at the tiny voice coming from her purse; stealing a quick look at Nino, the blunette was relieved to find he was distracted by Kim and Alix having another race.

"Marinette..!"

This time Nino actually noticed, looking around the park for the tiny voice. "Hey, Mari, I think someone is calling you."

She clasped her purse shut, turning it away from Nino, "Really, I didn't hear anyone… But I do need to use the bathroom, would you mind waiting, please?"

Nino smiled, "Sure! Just don't take too long, it looks like Alix and Kim are going to have another race soon. I can't wait to see what will happen next." He laughed.

Marinette smiled, aside from the mishap with Alix turning into Timebreaker from thanks to Chloe, her and Kim's matches were pretty fun to watch. "I'll be back real quick!" She quickly turned and raced to the nearest building; hiding in the lady's bathroom stall. Marinette opened her purse to let Tikki out.

"Marinette, you need to be honest with Nino."

"I know!" Marinette groaned. She sat down on the closed toilet, and covered her face with her hands. "I just don't know how to do it. What am I suppose to say: 'Hey Nino, it's been fun, but the truth is I didn't mean to ask you out on a date, because I was actually hoping it was Adrien. Can we still be friends?' That won't work, Tikki! He'll hate me forever!"

The pink kwami sighed and floated closer to her chosen, patting the girl's cheek with a velvet paw. "It'll be okay. Don't get discouraged! I'm sure Nino will understand."

Marinette stared at the little god from under her dark bangs, "…How can he?"

Nino looked down at his watch for the third time since Marinette left to use the bathroom. So far, she's been gone for a good fifteen minutes. "Girls take forever."

"Hey, Nino!" Looking up from his wrist, he quickly caught sight of a spot of red hair that turned into one of his friends: Alya. He grinned in greeting and waving his hand, "Hey, what are you doing here? I thought you were on the lookout for Ladybug and Chat Noir."

"I was, but I spotted you and decided to drop in and say hi. How is your date with Mari going?"

Nino fought off a blush growing on his tanned face. His mind flashed back to the terrifying encounter with those paranormal creatures tormenting him and Marinette while they tried to watch their movie

. Tossing that memory into a mental trash can he forced himself to smile, "It's going pretty good. She's using the bathroom right now."

"Alright. Hey while she's away would you mind if I gave you a few tips? You want to impress her right?"

"I-Impress her?" In all honestly that's what he has been trying to do all morning! Yet so far his attempts have done nothing but backfire. Then again, it was all because Chat Noir gave him some bad advice. Did the superhero confuse Marinette for someone else? Surely Chat has a lot of lady friends, granted his attention seems to be solely focused on Ladybug, but still the black cat hero was known for his chivalry charm towards his female fans. He wasn't a player by any means, but that didn't mean he hated the attention.

Perhaps Alya could help him win Marinette over. Nino knew he wasn't the smartest person around, but he could pick up how uncomfortable Marinette was. He guessed that she felt awkward around him since they were pretty good friends. Maybe Alya could help him break that.

Marinette sighed, rinsing her hands under the running water, when she caught sight of herself in the mirror; her hair was tousled from constantly combing it with her shaking fingers. Her face was flushed, with tear streaks smudging her face.

"Oh God, Tikki!" She sobbed, her wet hands flew to cover her face, the old water felt rather nice against her hot cheeks. "I can't do this!"

Tikki flew out of Marinette's pink purse; she gently pried one of her long fingers from the poor girl's face, to stare into her pretty blue eyes.

"Marinette, I understand. I think it'll be best to get this over with than to continue and make it worse. You need to be honest, but also show empathy to his feelings and…" Tikki froze, staring past her chosen as if she were invisible. Her eyes widen until they took up most of her face.

"Tikki…?" Following her kwami's stare, Marinette turned to a small, square window.

Her own eyes widen.

Chat Noir grinned and waved at her from his perched on a low hanging tree branch.

 **AN: Hey guys sorry for the crappy chapter. I'm currently taking three college classes, so please excuse the grammar mess you might be seeing. I just felt bad that I'm making you wait this long for new chapters. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter! :D Let me know what you think and tell me how should Alya and Chat sabotage the date in the next chapter. Love you guys!**


	9. Chapter 9

Nino was enjoying the nice spring air, taking in a deep breath he felt his lungs fill with a particular warm breeze, to fresh with a hint of lilacs. His date with Marinette was going exceptionally well, if not a little strange… To be completely honest he was enjoying his time, but not the way he had hoped. Something felt off about his feelings.

He could remember earlier the sight of Marinette sent his heart racing. He felt giddy and nervous, like he was entering a new school. But as their date progressed, Nino found himself losing interest. Not that he didn't find Marinette interesting; she was awesome! He loved how passionate she was about her (hopefully) future designing career. It's just he felt like he was hanging out with a friend, not a girlfriend. Was he just suffering from a spur of the moment crush?

Was that all this was?

These feelings were so foreign to him, he didn't know what to expect. Nino was ashamed to admit this, but he was glad Marinette needed to use the bathroom since it gave him time to organize his thoughts.

Now the big question was what to do next. He was starting to realize his feelings for his classmate wasn't as passionate as he hoped. Should he cancel their date?

The DJ immediately shook his head. He couldn't do that to her. Despite his epiphany Marinette was still his friend. Maybe that was what all of this was. Nino wasn't particularly close to any of the other girls in his class, perhaps he had confused these friendly feelings for romantic ones. Marinette was the only girl he was close to, so maybe he thought it was best to see her as more than a friend, not just a girl who is a friend.

Wow, how many surprises can a guy get?

Now back to the earlier delima: what to do next?

Well he couldn't just cancel the date. Marinette still had some low self-esteem in her, even after meeting Alya. Throwing their date out the window might end on bad terms for them, plus Alya would kill him and he can't imagine what Chloe would do if she heard about this.

No, he was going to go through their date and afterwards talk to her. He would let her down slowly, and see if she wants to remain friends. That was probably one of the most responsible thing he could ever think of. That that Mr. Agreste!

"Hey Nino!"

He looked up and across the park, jogging towards him, Alya, phone in hand of course, though she wasn't recording anything. She was probably enjoying the nice day just like him and Marinette.

He swiped his hand through the air in greeting, "Hey Alya!"

…

All Chat Noir could think was one word-"Shit!" There was no way his luck was this bad.

Marinette's bug eye stare wasn't doing him any favors either, her pupils expanded, nearly turning her blue bell orbs black, save for the thing ring of peacock blue surrounding it. Oh god what must she think of him now! His lady probably thinks he's a peeping tom-Shit!

Desperate to dispel the awkwardness, Chat waved his hand over enthusiastically, probably coming off as more creepy than he already was. Oh Plagg was going to have a field day when this was all over…

Marinette visibly winced before twisting her features into an, obviously, forced smile, her hand rose to return the greeting. She kind of looked like a robot with how stiff her movement was.

This continued for a solid two minutes, neither party willing to stop in fear that the awkwardness will come back with a vengeance.

His arm growing sore, Chat couldn't help but wonder how he had gotten into this mess. All he did was sit in the tree, it wasn't even near a window!

 _Chat had sat down in of the higher branches overlooking the park. One of the great things about his powers was the cat like agility, giving the power to scale up high places instantly, thanks the adhesive material coating his claws and feet. He had chosen this location as a way to watch Alya talk to Nino. Their conversation was incredibly long, at least to the love sick cat. The blogger was lucky at least she was talking to her crush. Chat was stuck observing; painfully bored out of his mind._

 _Chat couldn't help but scan the area for Marienette, searching the grounds for a teen with pigtails in her hair. Where was she? Nino didn't ditch her did he? No. Adrien knew his best friend wouldn't do that, especially to sweet, beautiful and talented Mari._

 _Not if he knew what was good for him…_

 _Chat's ears swiveled when something fluttered and cooed next to him. The blond looked to his right and his eyes blew wide open._

 _A pigeon._

 _There was a pigeon cooing at him, it's little head turned to the side, staring at Chat with its bead black eye._

" _Shoo! Shoo!" Chat waved his claw, but the bird didn't seem to care. Actually, the pigeon somehow took this as an invitation and hopped closer. "No! Go away you stupid bird!" Chat released a loud hiss, but the gray fowl only shook it's body, shedding a few of its feathers._

 _Of course the wind picked up, brushing the feather across the poor kitty's nose. He wringed up his head, his mouth opening wide as a tingling sensation ticked the inside of his nose, igniting a sneeze. "a-a-AH-CHOOO!" The power behind his allergy pushed Chat off the branch, falling backwards onto the lower limbs of the tree._

And that was how he found himself sitting in front of the window just as Marinette stepped out with her kwami…

Marinette, on the other hand, could only think of one word-"Shit!" There was no way her luck was this bad!

 **Hello everyone! I'm Lazy-Chipmunk and as you can guess, I recently adopted the story "Wrong Date." We would just like to thank you guys for being so patient! Creepy and I are going to do our best to finish this story! So we hope you enjoy it. :D Please tell us what you think. Should Marinette run for the hills and lock herself in her room, or should she confront Chat? What will happen with Nino and Alya? Find out on the next chapter and if you have any suggestions, don't hesitate to say it :D**


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